Eurozone Producer Price Inflation Slows Less Than Forecast

4/3/2012 7:09 AM ET

Eurozone factory gate inflation slowed less than expected in February due to rising oil prices.

Producer price inflation moderated to 3.6 percent year-on-year in February from a revised 3.8 percent in January, Eurostat said Tuesday. Nonetheless, it stayed above the consensus forecast of 3.5 percent.

On a monthly basis, the industrial producer price index climbed 0.6 percent, following a 0.8 percent gain in January. Economists had expected an increase of 0.5 percent.

In the EU27, producer price inflation held steady at 4.3 percent in February. Factory gate inflation was highest in Latvia, where prices rose 10.2 percent. Latvia was followed by Cyprus and Lithuania. Meanwhile, Sweden marked the slowest producer price inflation of 0.2 percent.